Bad Grades but Outstanding Extracurriculars -- Chance Me Brown/Yale

Chance Me / Match Me!
1

Hi CC! I am a current junior (Asian female, no legacy or anything special) and my dream colleges are Yale and Brown. I will most likely EA Yale next fall and RD Brown and some safeties (if Yale doesn’t work out). I plan on pursuing a path in business/entrepreneurship and art.

My GPA is lacking though at 3.84. For reference, my grades were all A’s freshman year, and I’ve maintained a mix of As, A-s, and B+s since (nothing below a B+). I moved schools after freshman year to a more rigorous curriculum with APs so this explains my all A’s that first year. Also, I scored a 1560 on the SAT on my first try and have gotten a 5 on the 3 AP’s I’ve taken so far.

Now for the main part of this post – my ECs. I am hoping these prestigious colleges will see through the numbers to who I really am: a hardworking individual with a clear direction and passion.

To start off with, in sophomore year I co-founded and currently direct an organization dedicated to raising awareness for underserved youth artists. My co-founder and I have singlehandedly raised more than $5,000 for this program, and our organization has hosted two exhibitions. I don’t want to go too in depth here, but basically we’ve been featured in tons of news articles and I’ve also been recognized by Bill Gates for my work lol. Also, something that gives me hope is the fact that my co-founder (who is a year older than me) got into Yale this year with this EC despite also having a GPA on the lower side. Since she’s got in, we’ve expanded a ton and I’m definitely planning on writing one of my essays about this venture.

Other ECs:

  • Got to curate youth exhibits at the most popular art museum in my state, as well as with a ton of other nonprofit art orgs
  • I am a national finalist for YoungArts and Scholastic Art Awards
  • I write and design for a pretty well known youth magazine
  • I am a graphic designer for a foundation that supports sexual assault survivors
  • I plan on submitting an art portfolio too – I can’t post it right now because it is unfinished, but I think it will distinguish me
  • I’ve exhibited my work at pretty much every museum in my state and a couple out of state
  • Lots of other online art stuff that you don’t wanna hear about (commissions, magazine features, interviews, etc)
  • The usual school stuff too – NHS, tennis team, DECA. I was pretty average at all of that
  • I haven’t asked for teacher recs yet but I think they’ll be solid

So, what are my chances? I’ve been really freaked out about this lately because finals just came for me and it’s been especially rough this year because I was in a car crash and suffered a concussion for the majority of first semester. Let me know your honest opinions!

Also I know Ivies are unpredictable for even the most distinguished individual. All I’m asking for is an opinion on my potential as an applicant :slight_smile:

2

Very interesting topic. I did poorly in academics just like you, but I have a really interesting background. My parents decided I could apply to Stanford literally two weeks before the deadline. (I’m just about to have an interview with Stanford)

First off, I’m homeschooled. I came from a family of eleven. I almost never left the house and my older siblings did not like me very much. They thought I was dumb. Even my mom wondered if I was slow. I was a complete loner. My parents were EXTREMELY religious. None of my siblings were allowed to apply to out of state colleges, there were severe dress codes, and lots of other very backward religious practices. My parents finally allowed me to apply to Stanford because my brother lives in Palo Alto.

From an early age I really liked gardening. When I turned 8, I built my first garden in our backyard. I modeled it after a garden that I saw down south. It was in the shape of a circle with apple trees and grape vines surrounding the outside. It was a real getaway place for me. I loved to study horticulture and I would read any book or magazine I could get my hands on about gardening. I was especially interested in growing potatoes and I wanted to learn the different methods for composting plants. I actually remember once walking a mile to an abandoned pile of manure so I could carry bucketfuls of it home to see if it created a bigger crop yield. In a way, the time that I spent gardening was the closest I’ve ever been with my mom. I loved when she would come out and weed with me. When she would be gardening with me, she would often complement me. When we would take road trips, she would point out crops alongside the road and I would tell her what they were. I’ve never been able to be as close with her as I was during that time.

When I turned twelve, I got a job at a landscaping company. I worked as hard as I could so that my manager would notice me. Because of my work ethic, I climbed the ladder. By age 14, I had a position that had been reserved for someone who was 18 or older. I got bullied quite a bit by my coworkers, but it was a massive growing time for me intellectually. I witnessed stuff that no 14-15 year old should. My coworkers would be offering me drugs and talking about very vulgar topics. But I slowly built really strong relationships with the people I worked with. They taught me how to drive, street fight, and urban culture and music. I experienced first hand the racism that many of them faced daily.

At the age of 15, I got a job at a local library. Between my landscaping job and the library, I was working over 65 hours a week during the summer and then SAT prep till 11 or 12 at night. It was a rigorous schedule. I was playing on sports teams and working with sub-contractors in my free time. I also started doing landscaping jobs on my own.

I’ve been through some really hard situations, and its been those situations that have caused me to grow into the person I am. I have huge goals. I want to own a Fortune 500 company and play a huge role in the world of philanthropy. Even if I don’t get into Stanford, I will still succeed. You don’t need to get into Yale to do HUGE things with your life. You have a lot of potential. Don’t be too stressed about this time in your life. Lots of really exciting things are happening. I really hope you get into Yale! Good luck!

P.S. You’re grades are NOT bad! Your chances of getting accepted are very large

3

Wow…Your story literally left me speechless. Stanford would be lucky as hell to have you. Thanks for the perspective and good luck on your interview!!

4

your title needs clarification, your grades are top notch, assuming they’re UW grades. you would do well at Yale since your friend also got accepted there. Did you know Brown does not take any AP’s even though you gotten 5’s… so take that into consideration.

5

Is 3.84 weighted or unweighted?
If weighted what’s your unweighted?
All in all you’d be in the running, meaning your odds are likely 1 in 20 or so.

What’s your parents’ budget? Have you run the NPC on the colleges you’ve identified and talked with them about costs?

Next, you need to find 5 solid matches that have the 2-3 key elements that make you want to attend Yale. (Can’t be “prestige” :wink: – a bonus is that it’ll actually be clarifying for you in preparation for the Yale application.)
Having dream schools is easy. Finding 5 good matches and 2good safeties is much harder.

6

Bad grades? Ok. Good luck.

7

Clickbait title. 3.84 is not a bad GPA.

8

Depends if it’s weighted …

9

“a hardworking individual with a clear direction and passion” can thrive at hundreds of choices of colleges.

Grades also reflect “hard work,” you know. Many of the competition won’t have B grades… and still have solid ECs they were devoted to.

10

I didn’t expect to get so many replies, thanks for the opinions y’all!

I guess I should have clarified what I meant by bad grades. I go to a very large, relatively competitive (?) school that my grades do not fall into the top 10 or 20% of students. So that’s kind of what I mean when I say I’m not exactly a top notch student–hopefully that makes sense.

11

What’s your rank and unweighted GPA?

12

Some comments in no particular order:

  1. If you are not in the top 20% of your HS class then schools like Brown and Yale must be considered reaches. In reality, these schools are reaches for any unhooked applicant. Great ECs are always a plus but the job of the admission officer is to accept students who they firmly believe will be successful within their very competitive student body.
  2. Even in holistic admissions I've heard a number of admission officer say that the transcript (GPA and course rigor) is the most important part of an application.
  3. I'd recommend that you give up the idea of two dream schools and work to create a solid college list that includes reach, match, and safety schools that appear affordable (find out your parents' budget and run the net price calculator for each school) and that you would be excited to attend. The people I see who get hurt by the college admission process are the ones who focus on one or two hyper-competitive schools and then don't get in. Spend the time and effort to seek out those great match schools -- they ARE out there if you do the work to find them.
13

Thanks for the advice! I do have a detailed list of colleges outlined for RD – I didn’t really elaborate on that just to keep this post concise :slight_smile:

14

I agree with @happy1

15

Can you answer the questions in #4 and list the colleges you’re considering?

Even for top 10% students, these 2 universities are high reaches, with 1 in 20 odds. If you’re not top 10% then your odds are almost nil.

What do you like about these two universities?

16

Did your cofounder have the same GPA and test scores you do?

Was she also not top 10% or was her grade less competitive?

To the other posters if cofounder got into yale with similar stats I don’t think this kid has zero shot. Unless yale decides they already accepted the “same kid” last year.

17

But OP’s friend completed her own full app, supps, had her own LoRs. It’s a mistake to assume any one or two parts make identical apps and chances. I’d guess OP has zero idea what got the other in.

More important, does OP understand what those two colleges look for? That’s critical (and not superficial.) It’s less some bullets on a resume and more what comes through about thinking, how one stretches, traits, and more.

Lots of kids found something, raise some funds, get some recognition. You need to tap into what gives these adcoms their Aha! moment, gives you the “dimension” they want. Brown and Yale have different ideas what that is.

18

I think she had worse stats. I remember she had a 1490 on the SAT, not sure about grades. The thing you mentioned about Yale deciding they already accepted the “same kid” is also another concern but I mean what can ya do

19

It’s not a “same kid” issue. That distracts. It takes you to anecdote level (someone else did X, so thinking you’re fine.) Not how it works. Not a productive way to assess yourself, what weaknesses you may need to work on, etc.

It’ll have more to do with the overall competition from your local area, who has similar accomplishments (in any field) but maybe presents a a better total app, his/her stronger match, maybe more rounding, maybe a more relevant self presentation, or other aspects.

Focus on the right concerns.

20

Wow, this got way more attention that I expected. To summarize a reply to everything, I am definitely prepared for rejection (expecting it even) and I know what I want from other colleges. I am not sure what got my friend into Yale, and I don’t think it matters honestly because I’ll never be able to get into the mind of an admissions officer. I guess the question I wanted answered with starting this thread was if my GPA puts me in the very-unlikely category. I think I got that answered, sort of? But thanks for the advice everyone!